


Last Night

by DOMinMatrix



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Is Sunshine, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Alya Césaire and Nino Lahiffe Ship It, Awesome Nino Lahiffe, Chat Noir Being Chat Noir, Chat Noir without a miraculous, Dorks in Love, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Growing Up, Hot Mess Adrien Agreste, Identity Reveal, Ladynoir | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Memory Loss, Minor Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Nino Lahiffe Knows, Nino is the best, Post-Hawk Moth Defeat, Pre-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Slightly Aged up, This is just as much about the romance as it is the friendships, adrien and nino are best bros, last chances, temporary memory loss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:16:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23979604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DOMinMatrix/pseuds/DOMinMatrix
Summary: It's been a year since the defeat of Hawkmoth and Adrien and Nino are going out for one last hoorah before Adrien embarks on the next chapter of his life.But, when Adrien wakes up the next day, with the worst hangover of his life, no memory of the night before, and a series of pictures suggesting he's just had the best night of his life - He has 24 hours to figure out what happened before he leaves Paris for good.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 31
Kudos: 130





	1. Wake-Up Call

**Author's Note:**

> I initially wrote this for Valentine's Day, and it took me WAY too long to get it finished. hahah Oh well.

The first thing Adrien Agreste is aware of when consciousness hits him is the pounding headache.

It’s what he assumes it must feel like to be hit by a truck. Several times. In very quick succession. 

And he's been pretty close to experiencing that in the past so he would know.

The second is the spinning. The sense of the world twirling around him like an out of control top despite the fact that he's positive he's stationary.

The third was how difficult it was to open his eyes - and not because he was still dead tired (which he was), but because the damned things were so damn heavy and the moment he did manage to pry one open, he had to shut it tight against the light.

Brightness like that should be illegal.

But despite the desire to curl back up and avoid the reality that was day time, Adrien’s body was awake. Or at least, it was trying to be. Which is more than he could say for his brain, which refused to supply him with a viable explanation for why the fuck he felt as ludicrously awful as he does?

_Fine, brain. Be that way._

The blonde huffed out a mix between a sigh and a groan, fighting a sudden spike in dizziness, bringing his hands up to rub his face like the act could alleviate some of the awful in some way.

Only to pause when he finds something covering what should have been his skin.

His fingers find and trace the edges, quickly establishing that the obstruction is covering just around his eyes, and tying around the back of his head with silk ribbons.

A mask? Why was he wearing a mask?

Carefully, he untied the mask from his head, grimacing as he lifted it from the pillow for the few moments it took, pulling it off to blink at it blearily; twisting it around in his hands. It was black and mostly plain, but well made - a sturdy material, not cheap plastic. 

He sat there staring at it for a long while, brow pulling together more and more as his eyes finally adjusted to the light.

What he hadn't adjusted to, though, was the complete lack of recognition. The utter void of ‘Ah-ha’s, that should have hit him as his brain finally seemed to catch up with the rest of his body in the waking world. 

Alarmingly, still, it didn't matter how hard he forced his brain to ponder the mystery. There was nothing. No flashes of memories. No hints to why he had the accessory. Just more confusion. 

Alright. So whatever he’d gotten up to the night before must have gotten _stupid_ crazy. 

He didn’t have long to ponder that particular train of thought before a sudden buzz made Adrien jump, dropping the mask to the bed - oh, so he was in bed at least, interesting - in the process. 

A quick glance over to the nightstand revealed his phone dancing across the surface as it vibrated with an incoming call.

Who in the world would be calling this early?

And by early, he apparently meant _not early at all_ , because it was already well after 11 am according to the unfamiliar alarm clock on the nightstand. 

He didn’t even remember the last time he’d slept in this late.

Or why there was a nightstand that looked nothing like his -

_Oh._

Right. He'd rented a room with Nino. They'd planned on going out. There was supposed to be a party or something. They'd decided to split a room.

A room that was currently only occupied by him, he realized as he peered around, taking in his surroundings for the first time.

Where the hell was Nino?

The buzzing of his phone reminded Adrien that someone was still trying to get a hold of him, and he should probably answer. 

And stop staring at it like it was a foreign concept.

_God, how much did I drink last night?_

With more effort than should have been necessary, Adrien sat up, grabbing his phone and feeling the now-familiar sense of confusion wash over him as he stared at Nino's caller ID.

Speak of the devil. 

Without much thought, Adrien hit the video function and waited for the call to connect, showing his best friend staring at the phone like years of tension and fear were being washed away.

And quickly being replaced by anger.

"DUDE! FUCKING FINALLY!! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"

In his need to escape the headache that his friend's tone assaulted, he nearly dropped his phone, thrusting it as far away from himself (without actually throwing it) as he could. 

God love the guy for being one of the best people the blonde had ever met, loving with every fiber of his being and putting as much of that emotion into everything he said - but damn he could be as loud as his girlfriend sometimes. 

And the last thing Adrien needed right now was an _Alya level_ of volume.

"Dude...Stop yelling at me." The blonde groaned, dropping his own voice as if showing the DJ how inside voices were supposed to work.

Nino narrowed his eyes on him in a glare that didn't have quite the heat he probably meant it to have, "Oh excuse me for being a little freaked out that my best friend is missing!"

"Missing? What are you talking about? And where are you? I thought we were rooming together?"

"We _were_ rooming together. And I'm exactly where I was supposed to be. In _OUR_ hotel room. Where the hell are you, cause it's definitely not here."

Ignoring the returning _Alya levels_ of volume to Nino’s tone, because frankly, the blonde could only really focus on one problem at a time, he gave Nino his best impression of a fish as his mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to register what the man was saying to him.

He wasn’t in the room they’d reserved?

"What? But…" he looked around, vision still swimming slightly around the edges but able to focus a bit more on the room itself. It looked just like the room he and Nino had checked into, swanky but modern, every bachelor's idea of clean-lined luxury as it was accented in woodsy browns and velvety navy blues, but, you know, minus the best friend roommate. "Are you sure?"

He turned back to the phone when he was met by silence only to find his friend's unamused expression, "Yes, Adrien. I'm sure."

"So where the hell am I?"

Adrien had never seen Nino facepalm so hard in the entirety of their friendship, " _You don’t know?_ "

He probably should have been annoyed at the sarcasm, but it was hard to feel anything past the still lingering pulsing pain in his temples, "No, I… I have no idea what happened last night." Adrien frowned as another wave of pain flashed over his brain at the attempt to remember, and a bout of nausea made him take a few deep breaths.

"Wait… like at all?"

Instead of replying, uncertain if he'd be able to keep the contents of his stomach from resurfacing, Adrien shook his head, his eyes landing back on the bedside table in the process.

Leaning over, the blonde opened the table's drawer, pulling a pad of stationary and a pamphlet from its contents, giving it a quick once over for the address.

An address that matched that of the hotel he and Nino had booked their room at - The Hoxton Paris. He was in the hotel after all.

"I'm in the same hotel." He leaned over again, ignoring the churning of his stomach as he checked the phone next to the bed, "room 414."

"Why the hell are you two floors up?"

Adrien shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine at this point."

Nino sighed loudly giving him a hard look over the line before resigning, "Alright man, get dressed. I'll come to you."

Thanking his best friend, Adrien tossed the phone on to the plush mattress behind him before falling back on it himself to stare up at the ceiling.

Somewhere along the night, he’d gone missing and ended up in a completely different hotel room. Scratch _stupid crazy_ \- this was some next-level ridiculous.

_Get dressed, I’ll come to you._

In the time since waking up, it never once occurred to Adrien to take in his state of dress - or, as he quickly realized as he glanced down with a frown blown into wide eyes, _lack thereof_. 

He wasn’t naked, but he wasn’t in his Sunday best, either. His boxer briefs still covered the necessities, but he was free of anything else.

Which reminded him again that he needed to make himself decent before his best friend came storming in. Which, Nino was bound to do any moment now.

Finding his clothes was a snap as they were draped carefully over the folding luggage rack on the other side of the room, though, just like with the mask, he didn’t remember this particular ensemble. Well, he remembered packing it. But he didn’t remember putting it on. 

In fact, the last memory he had was of the more professional sports jacket and lighter collared shirt and tie he’d worn to the last meeting he was going to have in the _Gabriel_ Paris headquarters for the foreseeable future.

 _Ever_ \- if he had his way.

With a sigh, Adrien pulled the long-sleeved maroon under-shirt on first, pausing briefly as a strange smell washed over him - like bleach. No, that couldn’t be right. There were no obvious bleach stains on the shirt, and a quick wafting sample of the rest of his clothes only found that his fitted black slacks were the only other thing that smelled the same. 

So not bleach… but something close to it? 

Whatever. Too many mysteries, not enough brainpower to piece them together.

Pulling the rest of his clothes on, he had to appreciate Drunk Adrien’s sense of style. It was a clean look, but roguish and darkly sensual too with the mix of maroon under dark grey collared button-up and black jeans that he knew fit him in all the right ways. 

Though, his favorite piece was the leather jacket still draped over the chair.

It had been something of an impulse buy, not that he didn’t have the money to spare.

But the way it zipped up, pockets and zippers symmetrical on either side of the lapels, and the attached belt that buckled around the stomach… It reminded him so much of his suit as Chat Noir that he couldn’t _not_ have it. 

On the days when he needed the most confidence was when he pulled out the jacket. Just to remind him of where he’d come from. What he’d accomplished. Who he could be.

He’d worn the jacket a lot after Plagg had to leave.

A swift tapping at the door to the suite shook the blonde from his memories and he quickly went to unlock the door, to note a little curiously that the additional swinging latch was left undone - not that he could speak much for Drunk Adrien, but Sober Adrien always flipped the swinging latch.

With another quick shake of his head, he unlocked the door to find Nino waiting outside, hands shoved in his pockets, nodding to him in greeting before brushing past him to enter the room. 

“So that’s what you ended up in,” Nino muttered as he passed, giving the ensemble a strange look as he did. A look Adrien really wasn’t in the right mind to decipher at the moment.

“I think so? They’re the only clothes I had in the room.” He affirmed before trudging into the bathroom and flicking on the lights to take in the damage.

All-in-all, he didn’t look half bad for the hangover he was experiencing. He could have done without the blood-shot rimmed eyes, but frankly, he’d had worse mornings in high school after a night chasing after a wayward Akuma, then having to get up only a few hours later for class.

Funny that it felt so long ago that that was a regular occurrence when in reality it was only a short year ago since the defeat of the greatest enemy to Paris.

He shifted his face around under the bright bathroom fluorescents to get a good look at his complexion, noting with a frown how he also could have done without the sickly pale lack of color to his skin. It made the areas where his skin was agitated stand out in blotchy red - 

Adrien paused as one patch of red on his throat caught his eye and he ran his fingers over the mark.

That was definitely _not_ irritation. Or at least, not the kind from not getting enough sleep or washing his face before bed.

And it’s placement over his pulse point sent something electrifying racing up his spine. Sending heat and pleasant shivers from his toes all the way up to his scalp, soothing the angry headache for the briefest of moments.

Something that felt like a memory. But one only his body could process; leaving his mind with broken fuzzy images - split seconds of movement across his skin that suddenly felt so vibrant that he couldn’t be sure he hadn’t crawled back into bed.

Adrien closed his eyes and willed those flashes back, clinging desperately to anything that would give him a clue. But the harder he pushed, the harder those memories avoided him.

“Uhhhh… Nino? What the hell did we do last night?”

At the sound of his panic, Nino came to the bathroom door with a raised brow before his eyes zeroed in on the same thing Adrien had.

The very clear and very permanent lipstick print that stained his skin over what was clearly a hickey.

“You’re asking me?” His best friend’s brows shot up incredulously, with an expression somewhere between wanting to murder him, and wanting to high-five him?

Emerald gaze met honey in the mirror, “Yes. Because we were together?” 

That seemed to stun his best friend into silence for a few long torturous moments as the DJ searched his face for something he wasn’t finding. “You… you really don’t remember anything do you?”

“No. Why?”

The silence stretched once more, and Adrien was starting to hate the tension building as Nino tried to find the right words to say, “Dude, you never showed.”

What?

“That can’t be right.”

Broad shoulders shrugged as Nino shook his head at the mystery shared between the two, “It can. And it is. Trust - there are a few people a little perturbed with you for ditching your own sending-off party. Myself included. But most of us were just worried that you’d been kidnapped by a rabid fan or something.” 

Never showed.

He’d never showed up to the party?

That explained so much and so very little at the same time. 

Why would he ditch his friends? Why would he choose not to show up when they were throwing a party for him?

That just wasn’t something he would do.

And neither was hooking up with some random stranger.

But, it was starting to look like that’s exactly what he’d done.

“Alright back it up for me. Start from the beginning. Maybe that will help jog my memory.”

"Yeah, alright.” He shrugged, motioning him to follow before plopping himself down in the armchair in the corner of the room, leaving Adrien to sit on the bed, “You and I left here together around -”

“But I thought you said I never showed?”

Nino gave him a pointed look at the interruption, “You asked me to start from the beginning. Let me talk, wouldja?”

Feeling adequately chastised, the blonde nodded, “Right. Sorry. Continue.”

“After checking in, you and I left together around six to go grab a bite to eat at a place on the way to the club. We had some food, a couple of drinks, and then left to go to meet up with everyone else at Chez Moune.”

Adrien nodded along as little bits and pieces of the story flashed in his mind. He remembered checking in at the hotel - how relieved he was to just be done with the meetings for a while. He remembered thinking compared to Nino, he felt a little overdressed since he was still wearing his nicer work clothes when they’d left.

“We weren’t even ten minutes from the club when I told you where we were headed and you told me you wanted to come back and change.”

Given his last train of thought, he figured he knew the answer already, but he asked anyway, “Why?”

Nino shrugged again, a roll of his eyes accompanying the sarcastic grin over his face, “You said something about not wanting to be ‘that asshole who shows up in the designer get-up’. But the others were going to start showing up soon, so you told me to head on over and that you’d make it a quick back and forth. You were so adamant about it. Even making a big deal about the mask.”

“Mask?”

“Yeah. For the club. It was a masquerade theme last night at Chez Moune and most of us were playing along. You were super into it. Are you serious, you don't even remember that?”

It was coming back to him now, he remembered learning about the theme (despite Nino wanting to keep the venue a secret) and wanting to join in the fun. Not to mention, the idea of being able to go out and not be recognized for a night was more than a little appealing. He'd purchased the mask almost two weeks ago. 

And from the sounds of it, he must have made it back to the hotel and changed given the outfit he was wearing currently and the mask he’d found still tied to his face when he woke up.

“Alright, then what?”

“You messaged me that you were on your way back, and then, nothing. That was it. You never showed up.”

“So… between me coming back here to change, and trying to make my way back to the club, I went missing?”

"I guess, man. I've been looking for you all night."

He certainly looked like he’d been running himself ragged all night - something that was beginning to settle on the blonde with heavy guilt for making his friend worry the way he had.

But he still couldn’t figure out why he would in the first place. It just wasn’t something he _did_. 

"I'm surprised you didn't call the police." Adrien chuckled with a shake of his head, trying to keep the conversation light, trying to avoid the guilt until he could piece together the mystery before them.

He was met with Nino's deadpanned expression and tight lined lips.

"Oh my god, you didn't."

"Oh no, I totally did." The wide-eyed expression would have been comical, if the DJ didn’t immediately follow the comment up with, "But they wouldn't do anything because you're an adult. Told me that if you were still missing by tonight, that I could file a missing person's report, but given everything, they told me it was likely you just wanted to disappear, _fucking assholes_." The DJ added that last bit under his breath, but years of magically enhanced senses in a super-suit left Adrien with better than average hearing.

And he couldn't exactly fault the officers for their assumptions. 

Gabriel Agreste's very public reveal as the identity behind Paris's longest-standing terrorist Hawkmoth had been a major blow. To their family, to their name, to him. He couldn't go anywhere these days without someone recognizing him, and not the same way they used to when his face was plastered on every billboard in the city. Most people didn't say anything, but he knew what they were thinking. 

How could he live in the same house with that monster and not know?

It was a question he asked himself every single day since. 

There were more than a few people who actually thought he was working with his father. But through tireless efforts and a raving defense from the heroes of Paris, his own name had been cleared.

That didn't keep people from speculating though.

Couldn’t blame them either - if the roles were reversed, he’d probably speculate too.

“Hey - I - I’m sorry man. I didn’t mean-”

Adrien blinked quickly, bringing himself back around and giving his friend a reassuring grin, “No - no, it’s fine. Really.” 

And it was. They were. There was no reason for Nino to apologize. He was just worried about him. Like any good best friend would be.

Truthfully, it warmed Adrien’s heart to have someone so concerned about how people treated him. 

Even a year later, Nino was still the rock and pillar of strength he had been the day Hawkmoth - _Gabriel Agreste_ had been revealed and subsequently arrested. 

And for the second time, the blonde was having to fight back the guilt for having worried his friend unnecessarily after he’d done so much for him over the last year. Not to mention setting up the party they’d been on their way to in order to celebrate before he left town.

How the hell was he going to make that up to him?

What kind of friend did that make him to begin with?

Nino sighed loudly, “Don’t start with that look. I know what you’re thinking and you need to cut that shit out.”

“I don’t -”

The DJ leaned forward so that Adrien had no choice but to look him in the eye, “You’re over there freaking out about the party and trying to make it up to me.”

Okay, either Nino was a mind reader now or - 

“How could you possibly-?”

“I’ve gotten really good at reading you.”

Oh, okay. Cool. Now he was an open book.

“I’m not going to pretend like I’m not pissed, but it’s pretty clear _something_ happened and I’m saving judgment until we figure out what got it?”

It took a moment, but Adrien nodded, knowing that his friend wasn’t nearly as angry as he was pretending to be.

“Cool. I’m going to let Alya know that I found you safe and-” he glanced up from having pulled his phone from his pants pocket, eyeing the hickey with a shake of his head and barely contained smirk, “ _mostly_ sound.” 

Oh, that was going to be a fun conversation, Adrien just _knew_ it. 

If Nino was the rock, Alya was his protective sister/mom, and he was going to get hell from her. First in the form of yelling for making her worry, then in the form of teasing for being a ‘ladies man’ (her hypothetical words, not his).

It was the least he deserved for disappearing though. 

Which brought him back to the mystery at hand.

Why?

Where did he go?

“By the way, you may want to ignore your phone for a bit. You’re about to get an influx of messages from god knows how many people. I just messaged the whole class - sorry.” The DJ chuckled, looking not at all sorry.

Adrien pulled his phone back out and sure enough, there were notifications a mile long, and only a small handful of them from the last handful of minutes. Which meant that everything else was from the night before. People calling him like he'd been gone for days. Nearly 500 text messages. His social apps were lit up with notifications he was no longer receiving pings for. 

How had he not noticed last night?

How was he going to go through everything now?

The answer was simple, actually - that was a problem for future Adrien (which was probably what he’d likely thought to himself last night that even led to this mess in the first place).

Right now, though, he was suddenly aware of something he hadn’t considered before - he had his phone when he woke up.

So it had been in his possession through the night. 

Surely there’d be something to point him to what he’d been up to in the hours he’d been missing.

Hopefully, past Adrien hadn’t thought it would be a good idea to clear his app history.

A quick swipe revealed that, no he didn’t, and present Adrien breathed a sigh of relief. 

There were a number of apps still open in the background, listing from newest to oldest, and he swiped quickly through them - a Google search window, his email, the camera, maps, all of which seemed promising, but only one seemed out of place.

Quickly finding the gallery app, Adrien immediately found that past Adrien - whatever he’d been up to - was terrible with a camera. The first dozen or so (which would have been the last dozen pictures he would have taken last night) were either too dark or too blurry or just the palm of his hand.

The blonde was just about to give up on the pictures when he’d scrolled a little further down and found another dozen pictures that weren’t terrible. 

And he almost didn’t register what he was looking at.

Because he didn’t immediately recognize that this was his phone and there were a dozen or so pictures of a man who looked just like him but not like him at all.

Because the guy in these pictures looked like the happiest man on earth. 

“Nino…”

He hummed, barely looking up from his own phone. Completely unaware of the frantic uptick of Adrien’s heart rate as the blonde stared, open-mouthed at the device in his hands.

“I-I think I just figured out why I ditched the party.”

That had the darker man settling his gaze on him with a raised brow, waiting for him to continue.

“And how I got the lipstick on my neck. Or… at least, I really hope so.”

Oh god did he hope so.

“Are you going to just keep being cryptic over there or are you going to share with the rest of the class?”

Despite everything, Adrien couldn’t help the grin growing over his lips that split into a full-blown manically hopeful smile as he flipped the phone around to show his best friend.

How could he not?

How could anyone blame him for looking like lady luck had personally graced him with her presence.

Because if pictures were to be believed - _she had_.

Nino’s mouth fell open at the picture, one depicting the one and only _Ladybug_ with her arm around Adrien (Chat Noir)’s shoulder, leaning in to place the softest of kisses on the masked hero’s cheek.

“I don’t know how, but I think I spent the night with Ladybug.”


	2. Trending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ninos reaction to why his friend disappeared is not what Adrien expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY. I know. I'm so sorry about the delay in posting this. I've been so focused on work lately. Cant promise I'll get the chapters out any faster, but I promise I haven't forgotten this story. Also, there is art that goes with each chapter, I just haven't finished all of them yet. But if I waited for that, I'd never get this posted. Lol

In his own excitement of the found images and the ‘sort-of’ answers to why he would ditch his friends, Adrien hadn’t anticipated his best friend’s reaction to the same revelation.

It was like Nino had been frozen in place, eyes comically wide and mouth moving slightly with words he seemed incapable of voicing out loud. Brown irises bounced from the picture up to Adrien’s face, then back down again before jumping once more to the blonde’s clothes, taking stock of him in piecemeal.

Only to repeat that process another two times while his expression grew more thunderstruck by the second.

“Oh my god…” He finally mumbled just before Adrien was going to ask if he was okay.

“OH - My God.” Nino repeated, hands coming up to press at his temples, looking like the perfect dictionary description of ‘mind utterly blown’, and suddenly the blonde didn’t really know how he was supposed to reply.

He was pretty shocked too… but even he wasn’t reacting like-

“Woahwoahwoahwoah-wait. Are-are you telling me…” the DJ swallowed thickly, eyes finally meeting him; staring him down like a total stranger, but somehow also completely awestruck at the same time, “T-that you-you’re- Chat Noir?”

Oh.

Ooohh...

Right. That.

Fuck.

Damn his stupid, tired, hungover brain.

Years of protecting his secret identity from friend and foe alike, and he lets it slip without even being prompted. Like a filterless moron. How the hell did he just forget that his best friend didn’t know he was Chat Noir - no, better yet, how the fuck did he even figure it out? He’d been fully decked out in Chat Noir costume before and no one ever batted an eye before?

Adrien didn’t even need to confirm his suspicions it seemed, as Nino fell back into his own seat and continued staring at him, coming to the only conclusion left to assume in the blonde’s lack of denial.

Denial that would have rolled off the tongue far easier if he still wasn’t fighting the sluggishness of the hangover from hell.

Even still, he kept coming back to that same frantic thought of how strange it was that Nino had immediately jumped to the superhero alter-ego conclusion with just a picture of him in a mask. Miraculous magic or no, he looked and acted differently enough behind the mask of Chat Noir that he hadn’t been concerned that anyone would connect the two.

So after a moment of juggling the pros and cons of trying to play it off and denying it, the blonde sighed heavily, with a slow hesitant nod, needing something, anything to ground him.

Not that it mattered much anymore.

But, this wasn’t how this was supposed to go.

And as much as he loved his friend, Nino wasn’t supposed to have been the first to find out.

Adrien swallowed back those thoughts as they brought an unpleasant wave of bitterness he wasn’t quite sober enough to confront, but sat on his chest anyways like a bad case of indigestion.

“More appropriate to say I was Chat Noir.” Some of that bitterness seeped into his tone and the blonde winced at how pathetic it sounded. This wasn’t the time to focus on old wounds, he decided, turning back to his friend, “How did you make that connection anyways? That’s kind of a leap in logic for just looking at one picture.”

Nino scoffed with a chuckle, “Not really. It’s only been all over the internet.”

What? What was all over the internet?

Before he could voice that question, though, Nino was leaning back in, “What happened? Where have you guys been? I mean, I know where you’ve been, but Ladybug and Chat Noir - you guys disappeared right after-” He hesitated, and Adrien knew what he meant, and by the way his friend’s usually dark complection seemed to pale impossibly white, he could see the puzzle pieces finally clicking into place, “Oh my god,” he repeated, and it was clear that this was going to be a reoccuring theme for the rest of this conversation.

“You’re Chat Noir. You literally arrested your own - “ Did it sting to have one’s eyes pulled that wide open? Adrien assumed it probably did. “Dude…”

With eloquence like that, how could the blonde ever hope to respond?

Man - hungover Adrien was kind of a dick. Noted.

Not trusting the headache induced sarcasm that was likely to be his response to the shit show that was his life paraphrased down to a single grief stricken ‘dude’, Adrien merely nodded.

Never in his life was he so glad his friend knew him well enough to read the room and move on.

This wasn’t a conversation he was ready for.

Wasn’t a year ago. Definitely wasn’t now.

“Why’d you guys disappear? There were so many different rumors about you. People were actually saying you were dead! I mean - until last night at least.”

They were still dangerously close to the topic he really didn’t want to address, not that the answer to this question was any less of a touchy subject, “Not dead. Just… retired.” A sigh escaped him as he considered his friend, trying to decide how much he should share.

Old habits and all that, but beyond protecting a secret identity that was no longer secret (or his), there were just things he wasn’t supposed to talk about. Things he’d promised to keep between him and Ladybug.

But he knew he also couldn’t leave his friend completely in the dark.

“Right around the time of my Father’s sentencing,” No doubt Nino caught the grimace he tried to keep off his face at the mention of his father, “Ladybug and I were… more or less forced to retire. We were given enough time to give our testimonies and to make any final appearances expected of us, and then we,” A deep breath and a scowl and Adrien couldn’t look his friend in the eyes anymore as he continued, “then we turned over our miraculouses to the Order of Guardians.”

“Wha - Why? Why would they force you guys to retire like that?”

It was a fair question. One he’d asked and begged to get an answer to as well. Something about the fact that the miraculouses hadn’t been Master Fu’s to give away - or to pass guardianship over to Ladybug. Something about balance having been restored and no further need for children to be playing hero (though, the monk who’d sought them out had been far kinder in his word choice).

They hadn’t exactly given them much choice in the matter, either. It was either comply or have guardianship forcibly revoked from Ladybug (which they could do apparently??) - resulting in her loss of memories.

But that was a whole can of frustration Adrien was not about to unleash on his best friend, so he chose to shrug off the question.

He didn’t want to linger on the why anymore. It hurt too much.

So he chose to come back to the more pressing issue at hand, “What did you mean about last night?”

Nino hummed in question, then understanding lit his features, “Oh, right - Social was blowing up last night with sightings of #LadyNoir all over the city! I actually wouldn’t have made the connection, except -” The DJ grabbed his phone, quickly scrolling through something until he found what he was looking for, and turned the device around to show Adrien.

It was a photo on instagram - some profile he didn’t recognize, with a candid shot of a couple wanding the city of lights and love hand-in-hand (or more precisely, a young woman laughing - chasing after a young man, as he pulled her by the hand towards some unknown destination, looking back at her like she’d hung the moon and stars), backdropped by warmly glowing shops.

The cation under the photo: “#LADYNOIR spotted in the 18th arr. - OMG THEY LOOK SO HAPPY!! 🐞🐱💖😭🥰🥰🥰🥰 #myshiphassailed #socute #theydeservesomuchlove #thankyouforprotectingparis #LADYNOIR4LIFE

It took him an embarrassing amount of time to realize exactly what he was looking at - that the cute couple was in fact him and Ladybug from the night before, but once it hit him, he understood how Nino came to the conclusion he had.

Kind of hard to deny when he was literally wearing the same outfit from both photos.

Still didn’t explain how anyone else had come to the conclusion that this was in fact Ladybug and Chat Noir galavanting around the city, looking for all the world certifiably adorable to the point it should be (and probably was) illegal.

And there was a small garbled voice calling out to him in the back of his mind saying that this was important. More than knowing he'd been with Ladybug, someone else knew he was with Ladybug.

"Wait… but that's a different picture than mine."

Nino gave him a small nod, "yeah, that’s what Im saying! You guys have been trending all night. Alya was having a fucking fit about it.”

He knew what his friend was telling him, but god help him, there just weren't enough synapses firing in the hungover grey matter between his ears to really pick up what his sober thoughts was telling him.

This was important.

Someone else knew Chat Noir and Ladybug had been together the night before. Lots of someones. “So, are there other pictures on social?”

“Yeah. Tons of them. Whenever someone recognized the two of you, they’d tag the locations."

"Everytime?"

"Yeah. Alya said something about it every time a new sighting went up. I think I heard the same rant from her no less than twenty or thirty times about not being able to catch up to you guys." He shrugged, "we were kinda busy looking for another elusive blonde." The DJ joked, eyes narrowing playfully.

But Adrien was too lost in his thoughts to catch it. If every time they were recognized, someone tagged the location, there was a literal road map online of his evening. He could figure out how he'd gotten here.

More importantly though, he could figure out how he'd ended up with Ladybug, and maybe… maybe he could figure out where she'd gone.

Maybe he still had a chance.

Maybe there was time to right the wrongs and get her back.

There had to be something there. Pictures like the ones he'd seen of them together and happy just couldn't be wrong.

"Nino. I have to find her. I-I have to figure out what happened last night. I have to visit the places we went last night. Maybe that will trigger my memories."

Nino gaped at him like he'd grown a second head, "Wha- are you crazy?"

"No! Yes? Maybe. I don't know. But I can't leave Paris without knowing what happened. I can't just leave it like this. I have to know."

"Cant you just… call her up? Why do we have to go adventuring around Paris?"

Frantic fingers combed through his hair, "I can't just call her up! I don't even know who she is! But if I go to these places, it might maybe-"

"Dude, you're literally leaving Paris in-” He checked his watch before giving him a rather pointed look, “twenty-four hours. You really want to go on some wild goose chase for a girl you're not sure you're going to be able to find?"

It was again, a fair question.

Adrien had made no attempts at hiding how badly he wanted to leave Paris after everything had come to light and he'd had to relinquish Plagg. The need to leave and live outside the gilded cage where no one would know his face was so strong, the first opportunity that came, he booked a one-way flight with no plans for a return in the foreseeable future.

But this… this changed his priorities.

"This isn't just any girl, Nino. This is Ladybug. And I… I need to find her. If I don't do this, I will regret it for the rest of my life."

This was more important than anything else. He couldn’t exactly explain to his friend why. Not yet. But if there was even a glimmer of a chance, even just the smallest hope he could find her and get her back, he would trade everything for it.

Nino sighed heavily, watching him carefully for a long time. Adrien was starting to worry his friend would deny him his request. After the stunt he'd pulled, Nino had every right. But that fear was short lived as his friends' face softened and a grin spread over his lips.

"What are we waiting for, then? Let's go find your ladybug."


	3. Spots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let the wild goose chase begin!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOOPS... I posted this on Tumblr but totally forgot to post here... SORRY!!!
> 
> Enjoy!

Before they could go gallivanting around Paris, though, Nino made a request to stop in at the club to deal with a last-minute tab mix-up from the night before - which since it was on the way to the location tagged in the earliest posts of him and Ladybug, he didn't have a problem with it. It was also kind of hard to argue with a request from a guy literally planning on following you on a glorified scavenger hunt.

But before then, of course, there was also the matter of the strange hotel room mix-up that needed to be sorted out. 

So after combing over the room for anything else he might have left and changed into something a little more comfortable, both he and Nino went down to the front desk in the hotel lobby. 

The Huxton truly was a fantastically posh sort of place - giving off the air of old money with a mixture of fashionable millennial hipster charm. Warm leather chairs littered the open lobby, accented by the navy and bright reds of carpets and plush cushions, and deep greens of floral arrangements around the connecting room leading to the open terrace and bar and lounge. It was the kind of place Adrien could see himself spending a lot of time in given the chance. Something between the extravagance of his old room back at the mansion and a home he’d like to create someday; filled with things that were like him - things that _screamed Adrien_. 

But that was a daydream for another time.

"Good morning, Mr. Agreste, I hope your stay has been pleasant so far!" A young attendant beamed at him the moment they approached the desk. 

He recognized the bubbly blonde immediately, having been helped by her when they checked in the day before. 

Estelle was her name. 

He wondered briefly if they’d been professionally trained, or if Estelle always looked this perfectly coiffed and outwardly radiant and approachable. It sometimes took multiple cups of coffee before even he could muster the amount of charisma she seemed to have in spades. 

Adrien grimaced but tried to hide it under a smile, "Please, just Adrien. And actually, I think something happened last night and I wanted to apologize."

The young woman gave him a confused look but allowed him to continue without interruption.

"You see, I woke up in a completely different hotel room than the one we checked into yesterday, and for the life of me, I don't know how, and I am so sorry for any trouble that might have caused. I'll pay for the room and any damage fee to make up for it."

The receptionist merely blinked for a moment at his word vomit, her bubbly radiance flickering for a moment as she seemed to mentally ask herself how this always seemed to happen to her before turning back into a megawatt bulb of sunshine, "Oh! I-I see. Would you happen to remember the room number?"

"Yes, it was 414," Nino answered in his place, recognizing the mortification crawling up Adrien's spine.

Estelle nodded and quickly began typing at her terminal, silence, and persistent tapping filling the void while they waited for the impending news. Though the longer they stood there, the more confusion seemed to fill her expression, "a-actually, sir, while I'm not completely certain of the circumstances, it - it looks like you booked that room."

"What? No, I only booked the room you checked us into yesterday."

She smiled once more, though, this time it seemed a bit strained - as she turned the monitor so that he could see what she did, "it says here that this room was booked early this morning. It looks like Collette was the one to book the room for you. She's not set to arrive until later this afternoon, but I could give you a call when she does?"

Early this morning? If the time stamp was to be believed it was nearly four am when the room was booked. 

Staring at the screen wasn't giving him any further clues, so he nodded at the attendant.

"Yeah, please do. Thanks."

They began to walk away but Adrien stopped, turning back to the woman, "By chance, do you happen to remember seeing me leave here yesterday?"

Even as she appeared put off by the question, she answered him quickly.

"Yes. Both times. First with your friend and then again about an hour and a half later. Though, the second time you'd changed clothes. I remember because you asked me if I thought it looked too flashy for a club." She giggled good-naturedly.

Nino snickered at his side, coughing to cover it up when Adrien scowled at him. 

Finally, they waved and headed out of the hotel's main entrance.

If ever Adrien hated the reminder that alcohol was not his friend, it was then as he and Nino stepped out into the late-morning sun of a gorgeous day in Paris - where the combination of splitting headache and overwhelming nausea nearly brought him to his knees while his friend pulled up the Uber app to confirm their ride.

"You good dude?"

The blonde could only grunt in response, swallowing back the abundance of saliva in his mouth in an effort to keep from heaving.

Something that didn't exactly convince his best friend that he was in the clear, "You know they charge extra if you puke in the cars, right?"

"I'll - I'll be fine. Just give me a moment."

Nino hummed, watching him with a curious tilt to his brow, "I haven't seen you this fucked up since the day after your old man's arrest. Just how much did you drink last night anyway?"

The unwanted memory of sitting hunched over someone's (he doesn't exactly remember who's) toilet bowl while puking his guts up until he had nothing left in his system (then dry heaving for at least an hour after that) flashed in his mind. It was a party his friends had thrown to just celebrate the end of Hawkmoth's reign of terror. For him though, it had been an opportunity to forget that twenty-four hours prior to that, he'd unmasked his own father after the man had tried to kill him and his partner in the hopes of stealing their miraculous to bring back his comatose mother.

There had been a lot of things he'd wanted to forget. 

Unfortunately for him, he didn't have the tolerance for the alcohol he drank. Landing him in a nice cozy embrace with the porcelain throne the next day.

Apparently, he still didn't have the tolerance.

Through his musings of the past, Adrien failed to notice his friend fishing something from his bag to hand to him until it was waving in his face.

A pair of aviators. 

The blonde thanked him before putting the glasses on, reducing the ever-present sting of light on his hungover brain. And just in time as a car pulled up to take them to their destination.

The ride to the bar was blessedly short and Adrien had managed to keep his stomach from rolling for the most part but was very thankful when they climbed out of the silver economy compact with a half-hearted wave and 5 stars.

Looking up at the ostentatious entrance to Chez Moune, the blonde had the strangest rush of Deja Vu. Something about the gold embellished entrance trim sparking familiarity that he couldn't place.

Nino walked right past him and through the doors, making his way up to the main club room and Adrien shook off his thoughts to follow after. 

The former cabaret turned dance club was lit brightly for the early staff, stocking and preparing for another night of fun for tourists and local party seekers alike. 

It was a club that Nino had managed to land more than a couple of gigs, and had reserved a portion of for the going away party they’d all thrown him the night before. Celebrating the next leg of his life...

_I’m leaving town soon. Tonight I’m supposed to be celebrating..._

The voice wrapped around him like fine silk, beckoning him towards the edge of a memory. Red - he was surrounded by red and moving shadows. And if he listened hard enough, he could hear the pounding of a bass beat that synced with the beating of his heart - steady and rhythmic and sultry. 

There was the twinkling of bells riding on the coat-tails of a sweet voice.

_You’ll get over it, I’m sure..._

"Hey man - did you hear me?”

Adrien blinked, and the red club lights and shifting bodies disappeared, leaving an entirely too quiet empty bar and bright fluorescents. It took another moment before he realized he’d been asked a question, turning to look at Nino and ground himself in the present once more.

"Dude, you sure you’re good?"

His adam’s apple bobbed with the force of his swallow, but he nodded slowly. He was dizzy, and for the first time, not because he was hungover.

The blonde turned back to the bar and snippets pieced themselves together in his mind, bringing clarity to what felt like a fever dream.

"I actually did make it back."

"What?"

Adrien ran his tongue over parched lips, “I made it back to the club,” he said quietly, almost absently, but with much more confidence as he stared unseeing at a pair of bar chairs on the far side of the room.

There. 

That's where he'd seen her.

When he'd managed to make it back to the club and no one was the wiser of his identity behind the black mask, he'd looked up to find his friends, only for his eyes to lock on her almost immediately in the crowd.

Understatement of the year, but, It had been a total shock to his system. Knocking the breath clean from his chest as he took her in.

It wasn't the red mask or the signature pig-tails hidden beneath a chic rimmed hat that had given her away.

Funny enough, it was her skirt.

Maybe not funny, because the presence of that one article of clothing had turned his world on its head. 

It was more than possible he was mistaken. It could have been anyone.

But not just anyone could pull off ladybug spots. Which she did. Oh god, she did. It was a long, high-waisted skirt with a bow in the same fabric on her hip. 

But he'd remember that skirt anywhere. She'd only ever worn it one other time, after all, and it was the last time he'd seen her, so the memory of her outfit from that day was burned into his memory.

It had to be her.

Right? 

Adrien ignored the crowd as he made his way over to her, all the while his heart raced and mind fumbled over what he was going to say. The nerves were killing him. What if he was wrong? What if this was a complete stranger and he made an absolute fool of himself.

_But what if it was her_ , a voice pushed in the back of his head, sounding suspiciously like Plagg. 

He fought himself the entire way over, his mind completely unaware of the body's natural magnetism to the woman until he was standing close enough he could reach out.

It was now or never.

“What’s a lady like you doing in a place like this?”

Mentally, he'd face-palmed at the absolutely horrid words spilling from his mouth. Seriously? That's what he went with?

The lady in question rolled her eyes at what was probably not the first pick-up line she’d heard that evening, turning to look at him, blue eyes flashing with something close to shock and recognition before a brow pulled up under her mask. 

She searched him for a moment. 

The longest moment of his life. 

Those eyes (if he was right, and he was positive that he was - oh god please let him be right) had always been so expressive - and he could see everything as it flashed in her expression; uncertainty, disbelief, reluctant recognition again before a smirk slowly graced her perfectly painted red lips, “Really? That’s the best you got?”

"For now, yes.” He nodded decisively, before finally taking the open seat next to her, “Though it did get you talking to me, so, I count that as a win."

She eyed him critically again before commenting, "Smooth."

"I try."

"Too hard."

He chuckled, because she always had been quite sharp-tongued and feisty. Good to see that hadn’t changed. “You never did answer my earlier question, though.”

"Why should I? You're a stranger in a bar."

Maybe, maybe not, he wanted to say, but thought better of trying to be too pushy.

"That's fair. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

He could see her eyeing him critically out of his peripherals. 

“I’m leaving town soon. Tonight I’m supposed to be celebrating, but it just doesn’t feel right.”

He didn't let the grin spread over his lips at having gotten an answer, but did nod along, “I understand the feeling.”

“Oh?”

“As it turns out, I’ll be leaving town soon as well. And I too am supposed to be celebrating.” what were the chances they'd both be here celebrating? Slim to nil.

“So what’s your excuse?”

“Well, I saw this lovely lady sitting at the bar and felt it was my sworn duty to keep her company.”

The masked woman snorted a chuckle, trying desperately to hide the amused grin as she brought her drink to her lips, “Wow. That was worse than your intro.”

“Meowch. You wound me!”

He caught the way her eyes cut back over him at the pun before answering, “You’ll get over it, I’m sure.” Laughing lightly into the back of her hand, sweetly, like twinkling bells.

He could spend eternity getting lost in the sounds she made, but he had a mission. He could not allow himself to be distracted.

He waved over a bartender and ordered a rum and coke, throwing a few bills on the counter, exchanging currency for liquid courage before turning back to his companion.

“Why doesn’t it feel right to be celebrating?”

She hummed, considering her words as she peered over at him and the drink he made himself busy consuming, then turning back to stare at the glass she passed back and forth between her fingers on the bar top, "There was - something I had hoped to do before I left Paris, but I don't think that's possible anymore… I missed my chance."

Missed her chance? Adrien fought every instinct in his body urging him to envelope this woman in his arms and tell her it wasn't too late - but he had no idea what she was referring to.

And it hadn't been her that had missed their chance. No, the blame for that was solely on his shoulders. "I see. I'm sorry to hear that." He murmured softly, not quite sure what else to say to her confession. 

Which left them sitting in an awkward silence that neither seemed to know how to dissipate. Both turning to finish their respective drinks.

That is, until the bartender came back around not five minutes after their glasses were empty with a fresh drink for the both of them.

Adrien’s masked companion immediately went to rectify the oversight, “Oh! But I-”

“On the house.” The bartender smiled, looking between the two of them - a kid in a candy store kind of giddiness to his stare, nodding his head like he was trying to find the right words to say before settling on, “And thanks. For everything.”

Both Adrien and his masked companion’s eyes widened at his words.

Neither confirming or denying his claims.

And the bartender didn’t stick around long enough for them to do so, either.

There was a moment where both of them just sat there staring at the drinks placed in front of them. Like taking the drinks would confirm every suspicion dancing between them. 

“I-it was almost like he recognized us or… something…” She said softly, and had it not been for his enhanced hearing, he probably would have missed it. She reached out and took the drink and Adrien watched as she stared at it, the faintest hint of a smile pulling at the corner of her lips. A soft yet sad far away look in her eyes.

A small chuckle escaped him as he too took his drink, “... or something.” He confirmed.

They were dancing around their identities again. It was so familiar and so frustrating, but he didn’t dare broach the subject in fear of breaking whatever spell kept her seated next to him instead of leaving. 

Because she had every right to.

She had every right to get up and leave and never say another word to him. Disappear into anonymity like a ghost of his past destined to haunt his every waking thought, but dancing just out of reach.

So he accepted the drink and accepted the company even if it meant hiding behind masks again, because - God he missed her.

He missed the easy conversion. He missed the quiet moments spent on rooftops under the stars. He missed her chiding him for his jokes. And he missed the way she demanded he take care of himself. Like her happiness depended entirely on his wellbeing.

And despite everything, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't still irrevocably in love with her.

It wasn't until they'd both nearly finished their free rounds that something caught the lady’s eye and made her groan to herself.

"What's with the sound of distaste?"

She hummed, and shook her head, remembering her audience of one, "nothing. Just saw something gross." She threw back the rest of her drink then turned back to him, “You know… this place is seriously beat.” grumbling, and looking for sympathy.

But instead, she would be met with a flash of inspiration across his face. “Then what are we waiting for?” he stood, nearly knocking over his chair, but steadied himself, reaching out to offer her his hand, “Let’s blow this joint.”

She sputtered a laugh as she looked between his face and the hand he outstretched to her, “And go where? Do what?”

What couldn’t they do? He smiled, feeling an overwhelming excitement take hold of him. Like he’d just transformed and he could feel the power Plagg once offered wash over him. “Everything.”

“Everything?”

He nodded, not at all deterred by the ‘you’ve grown two heads’ expression on her face, “You said you’re leaving town soon, right?"

"Yes?"

“Then, what would one night of fun hurt?”

Because right now, he was Chat Noir. He could leap great distances, climb towers, defeat evil. They could do anything as long as they were together. 

"B-but I don't even know you. You don't even know me!"

He grinned still, "Perhaps we know each other better than we think we do? Either way, we're two people about to leave Paris. We can't just go without giving the city one last chance to give us an adventure, right? Something sweet to remember it by."

She chuckled again, looking dazed and stricken, and trying to convince herself that the man before her was nothing but a creep trying to lure her away. She glanced at something over his shoulder, but her eyes kept coming back to rest on him. The indecision was being overshadowed by a spark of temptation in her features - something giving away how badly she wanted to say yes.

All he needed to do was give her a reason. 

“Would I ever steer you wrong, M’Lady?”

The mystery woman's eyes widened as Adrien made the comment, confirmation of his suspicions in a single gaze as he offered her his hand in invitation. He could have said anything, and she could have denied it. She could have brushed off the comment as him being a terrible flirt and told him to take a hike.

Instead, recognition lit her eyes like summer fireworks and painful tenderness filled her stare.

And despite everything, She took his hand.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't. Would you, Chaton?"

**Author's Note:**

> This story also has art for the chapters!! I'm trying to include them in the chapters themselves, but in the meantime, you can see them on Tumblr!
> 
> Also, legit, this story is inspired by the song "Last Night" by Good Charlotte.


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